Dark Chocolate

Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate - What Ingredient Contributes?

Recently, there have been some substantial discussions that pertain to the health benefits of dark chocolate. There have been numerous studies that have been done while studying this somewhat bitter and less popular type of chocolate and these have made people sit up and take notice. For centuries, there have been many who would rave about the benefits of chocolate in it and this has constantly and consistently been the case throughout the history of chocolate. What is it about dark chocolate that creates these health benefits and why does milk chocolate not appreciate the very same benefits nor the same respect with regards to this matter? Lets explore this and discuss and detail these supposedly health benefits.
With respect to the main differences between milk and dark chocolate, milk chocolate contains milk or milk type products and dark chocolate does not. Milk chocolate is loaded with mainly fats and less amounts of the active ingredient that is widely promoted in dark chocolate. Dark chocolate, on the other hand, does certainly contain much more cocoa than a milk chocolate bar does and therefore, will have more flavonoids in it. It is these flavonoids that are considered to be the beneficial part of the dark chocolate bar. But, what are flavonoids?
Flavonoids have an active ingredient that is referred to as epicatechin and it is this specific ingredient that is especially good for the heart. Fore, it has been proven that it will decrease the ability of cholesterol to from gathering within many blood vessels. This in turn reduces blood clots from forming within the free flowing blood and therefore blood clots are less likely to form. It is those very same blood clots that harbor and creates the inability of blood to make its way to the heart and subsequently causing a heart attack.
However, more is not necessarily better in this case and by simply eating more dark chocolate does not mean that one is obtaining more of these flavonoids. Therefore, the maximum recommended daily intake of dark chocolate to have and or benefit from these health assurances is one point four ounces. As with anything, more will probably have adverse effects considering that it is laced with many calories and plenty of sugars.
But, by simply eating dark chocolate will not guarantee that one will not have health problems. Fore, one must also eat healthy as well as exercise daily too for this to have any benefits at all. And, considering that chocolate is a plant, this seems to be a good start on the fruits and vegetables that should be consumed daily.

Birthday Cake!

Some Birthday Cake Ideas,

The birthday cake has long been a traditional and well-loved part of the birthday celebration - some even say from the time of the Ancient Romans. While we can never be certain about this, we know for a fact that the birthday cake completes the party. While you may be tempted to rush to the nearest bake shop for the best and most elaborate cake they have, wouldn't it be a nice touch, and a nice memory to bake your loved one his/her very own cake? Assuming that you have the necessary skills to make a sturdy, tasty cake, all you have to think about is the special design for the special birthday celebrate. Think about what suits his/her personality the most!
For one thing, if your celebrate is musically-inclined, there are a lot of ideas you can incorporate for the cake. First, try to remember what kind of music he/she likes: is it classical, pop, rock, alternative or maybe death metal? If it's classical music, for example, you can shape the cake into a violin, using brownish icing to coat it and some black licorice for the strings. You can also try making a grand piano cake, turning the icing black for its body and adding some white for the ivory keys. Decorating the cake according to this music theme leaves a lot to inspiration, and what your celebrate prefers.
For sport fans, it also helps a lot to determine their favorite sport, be it football, basketball, baseball or even chess. For the first three ideas, you can choose to bake a round cake, or oblong in the case of football, and decorate it like the ball. Or another idea can be baking a rectangular cake, or diamond in the case of baseball, and making it look like the field or court. For chess fans, a great idea would be to make the cake look like a chessboard, with alternating white and black squares. Adding edible chess pieces are a cute and amusing surprise for the birthday celebrate.
For children who are in the playing stage, you can decorate the cake as their favorite cartoon character or toy. Make a big rectangular cake, paint it with yellow icing, stick two big eyes and a square pants, and you have sponge boob Square pants. Alternatively, a big pink, star-shaped cake can be embellished with icing to look like Sponge boob's best friend, Patrick Star. Cakes that tell a story or adventure, like Wild Wild West, Indian, Princess and Superhero inspired cakes are a big hit with children too. Playing around with the child's favorite toys and things can give you a lot of birthday cake inspiration. Thinking you're not ready for a big birthday cake such as those said above? Try making smaller cupcakes instead. Make small cakes enough for the estimated number of people attending the birthday party and more. Decorate each splendorously with the celebrate' favorite colors. Baking them a special cake for their birthday is a sweet way of reminding them how much you love them.

Strawberry Cake!

About Strawberry Cake,

A strawberry cake is one of the most deliciously tasting cakes. It is a cream filled cake that really tastes so good. Milk is included in its ingredients making it creamier. Sugar and egg is also added to its ingredients to make it tastier. Its bread is made up of chiffon cake - a smooth and creamy cake filled with strawberry fruits. This strawberry is even caramelized and placed as a filling of the cake. Even the icing and the toppings are made up of strawberry. It is only usual to find ground strawberry fruits mixed with cream and served as the icing. The fruit is also the one giving the attractive color pink to the cake.
This cake can also be an artificial one. Other commercial establishments bake this kind of cakes for business. In other times, the baked cake is artificial with no real strawberry fruits inside.
Strawberry gelatin is sometimes used to make the cake taste like a real strawberry cake, gelatin has the pink color and also the scent of a strawberry, this makes the finished product taste like a real strawberry cake. The icing is usually colored pink to make it have more attractive appearance. They sometimes add food coloring to the icing cream to make it look like a strawberry icing, but the taste of the icing do not taste like a strawberry fruit.
This kind of cake is an all occasion cake. It can serve as a birthday cake, a wedding cake, an anniversary cake, a graduation cake and it can also be served for other occasions. This cake has a sweet taste that can suit any occasion. It can even be served after meals as a type of dessert and this can be enjoyed with a cup of coffee. You do not need any special reasons for baking any kind of cake at home. You can just do this for the sake of baking one. You can spend time with your loved ones at home and enjoy the great taste of the cake while drinking a cup of coffee or tea.
This cake can be of different sizes and shape. Shape, designs and sizes of cakes vary from one person to another. In wedding ceremonies, the cake usually has layers; it can be from one, two or three layers depending on what the couple prefers. This can be ordered in shops or it can also be homemade. The price of these cakes varies from sizes and designs. Other shops add prices to the cost if you want it to be accessorized (but this depends on the kind of accessory to be placed).
Baking a strawberry cake is considered a skill. Doing this is not difficult. You can learn to bake from a friend or a loved one. You can also get ideas from recipe books and other baking magazines. Available information and ideas can come from the Internet as well. If you are a cake lover, it is still nice to learn how to make one for your own consumption. It would be more satisfying for you to eat a cake that you baked at home.

Healing Benefits Of Ginger Tea!

Benefits Of Quick Tea Ginger Tea!

Talking about tea and leaving out the topic of ginger tea could well be regarded as a crime! Ginger tea is surely one of the most popular flavours of tea. It will undoubtedly form an integral topic of any tea-table conversation, filling the air with its multi-layered,
Aroma.......
Over the years, ginger tea is mainly known for its unique, pungent taste which lingers for a long time on our taste buds. This taste is the biggest asset of this amazing, sharp flavoured drink! The aroma brightens up your mind and the taste kicks away that lazy or sick feeling that so often seems to cling to us after a hectic day at work. That spicy taste of ginger, coupled with the mild sweetness of sugar, comes up with a breath taking result of a perfect ginger tea – the instant Quik tea Ginger Tea Mix.
The success of making ginger tea lies in the fact that the tea needs to be a bit spicy to taste with a hint of sweetness to it. A cup of water, sugar syrup with pieces of ginger root boiled together for few minutes will provide you with an invigorating experience of ginger tea! Of course, if you are in the mood for a quick fix (especially on those days where you just cannot wait to be hit with that spicy-sweetness) just get yourself a pack of Quik tea and enjoy the refreshing taste,
Although ginger tea has been a commercial favourites with tea-lovers in many countries recently, the flavour holds a history of many hundred years behind it. It is believed that the Chinese came up with this flavour during one of the epidemics as they observed that
ginger holds many medicinal properties. Also, beverages including ginger were believed to be a favourite drink among ancient Greeks and Romans. Even in India, ginger drinks were the one of the most preferred drinks during 18th and 19th century.
The main and most popular property of ginger is it helps cure cough and cold. It also helps in relieving headaches. Some other uses of ginger, which are equally vital, are that it helps cure skin ailments faster, especially in chicken pox. Apart from this, ginger tea also helps in improving our immunity and also helps reduce stress levels. Quik tea Ginger Tea is also helpful in curing problems related to the respiratory system and helps to correct any imbalance in the digestive system. Besides this, Quik tea Ginger tea also helps reduce skin irritation.
Quik tea Ginger Tea, thus, over the years has been a beloved beverage among all age groups, kids and adults alike! A beverage that is revered for its medicinal properties as well as being a cherished tasteful beverage, Quik tea Ginger tea does it all.

How to Make Cheese cakes without Turning on Your Oven!!!

How to Make Cheese cakes without Turning on Your Oven!!!

Everyone loves cheesecakes. They are easy to make but they have a long bake time. And they are rich, loaded with cream cheese and eggs. In the summertime especially, no-bake cheesecakes are a delightful alternative. You don't have to turn the oven on and they are lighter and not as rich.
In our test kitchen, we have experimented extensively with cheesecakes. We've written articles and an e-book. We've taught classes. But it took us a long time to discover how to make no-bake cheesecakes that we really enjoyed.
Cheesecakes are made in a crumb crust, most of which don't need to be baked. It's the filling that needs to be baked. It's really a custard that relies on the coagulation of the eggs to set the filling. Some commercial no-bake cheesecakes rely on gelatin to set the filling. We've never been fond of gelatin cheesecakes.
We've found that pastry fillings and puddings make a much nicer filler for cheesecakes than does gelatin. The key is in the ratio. You want it firm enough that it cuts nicely but without so much cream cheese that it's overwhelming: Two eight-ounce blocks of cream cheese pairs perfectly with two cups of pudding or filling. When you beat these two together, along with sugar and extract, you have a delightful no-bake cheesecake filling.
Our favorite filling ingredient is Bavarian cream. You can buy premade Bavarian cream or make your own.
What follows is our model recipe with variations. You can make your own variations or leave off the topping for a vanilla cheesecake.
Strawberry Cream No-Bake Cheesecake (with Variations)
This strawberry cream no-bake cheesecake recipe makes a delightful refrigerated dessert. The filling is light and smooth. Topped with a strawberry sauce and some fresh strawberries, this cheesecake makes a beautiful presentation. And it doesn't take much prep time. You'll want to make this often.
For the crust:
1 2/3 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
In a nine-inch springform pan, mix the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and sugar together. Press the mixture across the bottom of the pan and up the sides to form the crust. Put the crust in the refrigerator to set the butter while you mix the filling.
For the filling:
2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups Bavarian Cream (see substitutes)
1 teaspoon strawberry flavor
In your stand-type mixer and with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and sugar together until it is soft and smooth. Add the Bavarian Cream and flavor and continue beating, scraping down the sides once, until smooth.
For the topping:
12-ounce package of frozen strawberries (see substitutes)
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup granulated sugar or to taste
3 tablespoons Instant Clearjel (see substitutes)
fresh strawberries to garnish
Defrost and mash the strawberries. Add the water. Mix the sugar and the Instant Clearjel together in a cup. Add the sugar mixture to the strawberries and stir until the sauce thickens.
To assemble, spread the filling into the crust and smooth with a spatula. Add the strawberry sauce over the top. Add sliced strawberries on top of the sauce. Refrigerate. Peel the ring off the dessert when you are ready to serve.
You will have more sauce than what you need. That's okay. Save it for an ice cream or dessert topping or put it on your pancakes. Leftover sauce can be frozen.
Substitutes:
You may substitute cornstarch for the Instant Clearjel. If you do so, you will need to cook the sauce to thicken it. Cornstarch requires cooking to thicken; Instant Clearjel thickens without cooking. (Original Clearjel thickens when cooked.)
You may substitute vanilla pudding for the Bavarian Cream.
You may use fresh strawberries instead of frozen.
Raspberry Cream No-Bake Cheesecake
Make as per the strawberry cream recipe. Use raspberry flavor and raspberries instead of strawberry flavor and strawberries. Press the mashed raspberries through a sieve to remove the seeds.
Blueberry Lemon No-Bake Cheesecake (with Variations)
Make as per the strawberry cream recipe. Use lemon flavor and a teaspoon of lemon zest in the filling.
Use fresh or frozen blueberries instead of the strawberries. Garnish with whipped cream.
Chocolate Cream No-Bake Cheesecake (with Variations)
You can leave off the topping though both strawberry and raspberry topping goes great with chocolate cream.
Melt 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate wafers or quality dark chocolate chips. Drizzle the hot chocolate into the filling while the paddle is turning. Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Garnish with whipped cream and shaved chocolate.
Homemade Bavarian Cream
1 packet unflavored gelatin
3 tablespoons milk or cream
1/4 cup granulated sugar
5 egg yolks
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups heavy cream (second measure)
1. Pour the milk or cream into a small bowl and then sprinkle the gelatin on top. Set aside.
2. Whisk the egg yolks and the sugar together.
3. Heat the milk mixture over medium heat until it just starts to simmer. Do not boil. Remove from the heat.
4. To temper the eggs, slowly whisk the hot milk into the egg mixture. Once the eggs and hot milk mixture is combined, cook the mixture in a double boiler or over simmering water, stirring, until it starts to thicken and simmer. Add the vanilla. Place the bowl in an ice bath and stir until the mixture cools to room temperature.
5. Whip the second measure of whipped cream. Fold in the whipped cream. Refrigerate until you are ready to use the Bavarian Cream.

Fruit Cake!!!

The Basic Story Of Fruit Cake,

There is a long and rich history behind fruit cake, no pun intended. The basic recipe has been around for centuries, and over time it has been modified a little here and there to become what we know it to be today. The oldest know recipe for this particular dish came from ancient Rome.
It did not take long for this pleasant little pastry to become very popular with nearly all those who tasted it. The basic recipe for fruit cake was spread through the world as different countries were conquered and people moved around. While it started out in just one area, it is now a pastry that is knows all over the world.
The fruit cake seems to have gained a poor reputation over the years as one of the worst holiday pastries out there. This is not because the recipe for fruit cake produces a poor result, but rather because some of the recipes that have been created for mass production have been changed so that they will keep for longer and this has led to them not being as satisfactory as they should be.
There are jokes all over the world about how rotten this pastry is and there are even some areas where they go as far as to have competitions for who can throw them the furthest and such things. The truth is that there are a number of these recipes that are absolutely delicious, but this dish is never going to outlive the negative karma that surrounds it due to a few bad ones being mass produced.
This by no means implies that all production fruit cake is bad. There are only a few companies that have done this and made poor dishes as a result. These are the companies that have managed to give the poor dish a bad reputation as far as flavor and texture. The ones that get it wrong either have great flavor and poor texture, great texture and poor flavor, or they just get it all wrong. There are several companies that mass produce the pastry and it comes out delicious. The key here is that they know what they can and cannot change about the recipe to make the dish last longer on the shelves while still maintaining a flavor that is desirable as well.
Remember that no matter how much stigma there is associated with the fruit cake, when you get a good recipe the dish will come out tasting just as fabulous as those that made it a popular pastry in the first place. Don't let all the bad jokes leave you with a poor opinion of this treat before you have ever even tried one of the good recipes. Get out there and try a few recipes. When you make one for yourself you can change anything about the recipe that you think won't work well for you. This means that you can make it all your own, and have a great tasting treat.

You may lose up to 3 kilograms (6.5 pounds) a week!!!

Diet Programs And Meals -- The Pasta Diet,

The Pasta Diet centers around glucides that are mostly supplied by pasta. By following this diet you will eliminate fats and rapidly digested sugar from your plate. Instead you will place the focus on proteins and slowly digested sugar. You may lose up to 3 kilograms (6.5 pounds) a week. Here are some of the diet principles.
Eat complex glucides and fruits for breakfast. For example, eat bread or cereal and fruit. Add no sugar to your breakfast drink. For lunch eat a single dish and a piece of fruit or a dairy product. The selected dish may be pasta, soup, or salad. The portion size is small: we are talking about a 300-calorie soup, or a 600-calorie pasta or salad. Don't eat any bread but you may have a glass of wine. Your supper may consist of 30 to 40 grams (an ounce to an ounce and a third) of meat or 60 grams of a glucide-rich dish and a dairy product for supper. Consult documentation for additional information describing these two meals as the rules are fairly complicated. Exercise to reduce the risk of regaining lost weight and to keep your body in shape. You should shoot for three endurance sessions and three muscle-building sessions per week.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of this diet is the pasta. A disadvantage is the excessive glucides. Make sure to eat five servings of fruits or vegetables daily.
Here are two sample menus:
Menu 1
Breakfast: A large glass of partially skimmed milk. 30 grams of corn flakes. A glass of fruit juice. Tea or coffee.
Lunch: Gnocchi gratin with ginger and tomatoes. A light yogurt.
Supper: 150 grams of roast veal. 400 grams of carrots. A yogurt.
Menu 2
Breakfast: A poached egg. A slice of whole-grain bread. A yogurt. A glass of pure fruit juice. Tea or coffee.
Lunch: Linguini with sliced beef and onions. An apple.
Supper: 200 grams of salmon in foil. 500 grams of steamed endives and spinach. A light yogurt. 

Just to say "I remember you today"

Coffee Cake For Your Honey!

Do you need a reason to send a coffee cake for the person that you love most? Isn't it a fact that when you are in love you prefer to show your affection for that person in almost all ways possible? It is nice to do something noteworthy especially for the person that care about. No matter how hard the days are you will always have a reason to e of good cheers because you know that you have made someone else happy for the day.
Here are some reasons that you can make use of when you want to justify your act of sending a coffee cake for your dear one. 

Cold afternoon to sip coffee together 

Isn't it boring to sip a cup of coffee during the cold afternoon when you are alone? You can drink it well if you have someone to converse with, share your innermost feelings and laugh with. You can call the online bake shop and order a coffee cake so that you can talk about the happenings in each other's lives as you take a bite of the most delicious cake you have ever tasted in your life. 

Send in his office on a busy working day 

If there are lots of pressures in his office why don't you call the online bake shop to ensure that he gets the inspiration to reach his objectives for the day? Maybe his office mates would also enjoy the taste of the sweet coffee cake that will energize them especially in day that is full of paperwork. They can laugh while rushing the deadlines and maybe the boss will not be too serious anymore in commanding them to do things because he will also feel delighted with the taste of your coffee cake. Coffee also wakes up a sleepy mind so you will be sure that your dear one will not be caught sleeping in a corner while the entire office mates do their tasks. 

Just to say "I remember you today" 

Sometimes you don't need a reason at all to send someone a cake. If you feel generous or if you are a little bit sweet today you can order a cake online and tell the person that he is remembered. Instead of waiting for him to call you why don't you send a coffee cake and attach a note saying that he is remembered? Some women find it hard to admit that they are wrong right after an argument but don't be one of them. There are things that you can just let go for the sake of having a harmonious relationship. Learn how to say you are sorry or if you are not the one who committed a mistake learn to talk things over in a silent way.
If you had misunderstandings in the past why not take the chance to fix things up? Start all over again and enjoy life together right after the single slice of the sweetest coffee cake for your honey coming from your heart.

Easy Comfort Food Recipes!

Easy Comfort Food,

January always seems to be the month that creates the desire for food that is warm, comforting and easy to fix. After all the more complicated and rich foods of the holiday season it seems that simple and warming are the kinds of foods we are all in the mood to eat. The weather also dictates that soups and stews are appropriate additions to our menus. They are easy to prepare, warming to our cold bodies and they invite us to stay indoors in our kitchens.
Last year about this time I shared some of my family’s favorite potato recipes. These recipes were simple, made us feel good because they were part of our family’s recipe collection and just warmed us up. I have a couple of new recipes that are not based on just the potato but they do have potato in them. One of them is a slow cooker recipe but can easily be adapted to the stove top.
A good rule of thumb when adapting a recipe from slow cooker to stove top is to increase the liquid. I would not add too much more liquid in the slow cooker recipe as it would make it too soupy. The following recipe may be cut in half.
Chicken and Corn Chowder
• 1 cup finely shredded carrots
• 2 cups 1% percent milk
• 1 cup chicken broth
• ¼ tsp. black pepper
• ½ tsp. no salt seasoning (or more to taste)
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 2 cups potatoes, peeled and cut into ½”chunks
• 1 lb. uncooked, boneless chicken breasts cut into 1” pieces
• 4 15 ounce cans cream style corn
• 1 cup dried potato flakes
1. Combine all ingredients except potato flakes in a 6 quart slow cooker.
2. Cover and cook on low for 5-7 hours until potatoes pierce easily with a fork and chicken is done.
3. Add potato flakes and stir well.
4. Uncover and cook on high for 10 minutes or until chowder has thickened and potato flakes have thoroughly dissolved.
Serves 8-10
Note: This may be halved for a smaller slow cooker. To make on the stove top add about ½ cup more liquid. The test for doneness would be the same.
The second recipe was found in a newspaper supplement several years ago. It is truly comfort food and most delicious.
Cheesy Chicken Chowder
• 2 14 ounce cans low sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups peeled and diced potatoes
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1 cup diced celery
• ½ cup diced onion
• 1 tsp. no-salt seasoning
• ¼ tsp. pepper
• ¼ cup butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 cups 1% milk
• 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• 2 cups diced cooked chicken
1. Bring chicken broth to a boil in a medium stock pot. Reduce heat and add potatoes, carrots, celery, onion , no salt seasoning and pepper. Cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.
2. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add flour and blend well. Gradually stir in milk and cook over low heat until thickened. Stir in cheese and cook until melted. Add cheese mixture to the broth and vegetable mixture stirring well. Add chicken cooking and stirring over low heat until thoroughly heated. 

Easy cooking!

Easy Recipes for Dinner,

Cooking is generally as hard as we make it. Easy cooking or hard cooking becomes a choice if you think the process through. Yes, we may want hard cooking for special occasions such as holidays. Most times, however, what works best are those easy cooking recipes that we can put together in little time but with a big taste.
Why does this become important? Either the schedule is tight, the money is tight, or both. When you get home from work, you are scrambling to get something together to put on the table. You could do take out or fast food – again! There has to be some cooking ideas that offer easy recipes for dinner. You are left staring at the open refrigerator wondering what to cook.
End your kitchen frustration. Here are four easy cooking ideas the will help you get healthy easy recipes from the refrigerator to the table.
1) Plan in advance.
Cooking is like anything else. Plan your work and work your plan. This is the best way to stay on time and on budget. Put yourself together a weekly, or even monthly cooking book that you can use. Break each page down into two sections – first, what you need to buy, second, how to put it together. You can get everything on the counter in the morning and put the meal together in minutes when you get home. If you use quick and easy recipes, you have even more time available.
2) Use your crock pot.
You know the one. You got it as a wedding gift all those years ago. It’s on the shelf gathering dust. Wash it up and use it. Crock pot cooking has dinner ready when you walk in the door. There is no after work prep time. You can cook almost any meat, soup, or vegetable (or any combination thereof) in a crock pot. The words crock pot and easy cooking should be side by side in the dictionary. The only thing you have left to do in the evening is set the table. Cleanup becomes easy. 1-2-3 and easy dinner recipes become culinary delights for your family.
3) Prepare dinner at breakfast.
Yes, this is not what most people think of as normal. Yes, this will save you time. You know when you have to leave for work. You have the most control over your schedule before you close the car door in the morning. Leverage the morning time to gain the afternoon time. Schedule time to get supper ready and use easy dinner recipes. By using some easy cooking recipes, you keep your ingredients to a minimum and take up the least amount of prep time. All that is left when you get home is to heat it up.
4) Prepare many meals at one time.
If you cook an entire month of easy dinner recipes in two days, all you have left on the day to day basis is about 20 minutes to heat the meal. Open the freezer in the morning. Choose what looks good. Put it together in under 30 minutes that afternoon. The hard part has already been done. Some people get overwhelmed at the thought of cooking 30 meals at one time, but it really isn’t that hard if you are organized about it. We do it about six times a year. Start with a week at a time if you want to take a slow start, but this is a great time saver on a daily basis and budget conscious on a monthly basis.
Cooking is usually as hard as we make it. Easy cooking is a choice for your lifestyle if you think the process through. We just have to get the hang of what works best. It’s often those easy cooking recipes that we can put together in little time but with a big taste......... 

Cooking ideas!

Easy Cooking,

Save time and money. It seems to be the cry in every household today. It makes sense. We begin to look at where we can save time and money, one of the places that we sometimes forget to look is in the kitchen. Cooking takes both time and money. What if we could transition over to easy cooking? What if we had quick and easy recipes that would be easy recipes for dinner and easy on the budget as well? To me, that is really appealing.
We like cooking ideas that give us healthy easy recipes to use and we are always looking for new things to add into our cooking book collection. The other thing that we have done recently is to revisit some things we used to do, but put on a shelf.
We now often use our crock pot for dinner. Crock pot cooking is easy cooking. Yes, I do have a recipe book. We like the crock pot cooking recipe book we offer for sale on our website, (see the resource box). We also like to experiment and try new cooking ideas. The best part of using the crock pot is the time savings we get and the fact that it makes for easy dinner recipes. We throw it together in the morning. If we are cooking with kids, my son would take basketball shots with stuff that goes in the pot (fun but sometimes messy). When we get home, we set the table and eat. Time wise, crock pot cooking makes for a great meal.
Another tool we get more out of is the food processor. Several times a year, I will take two entire days to cook. I pull out the food processor and slice, dice and chop. I put together healthy easy recipes, bag them, and put them in the freezer. I do a month’s worth of cooking all at one time. Each night for the next month, I can just pull an easy cooking recipe out of the freezer and it’s hot and on the table in about 20 minutes.
No, this is not as fast as serving from the crock pot. It does take some planning. For a few weeks prior to my cooking adventure, I know what I need to buy in terms of meats and vegetables. I shop every sale. When my days of cooking arrive, I am stocked up with everything I need and I planned it, got it on sale. I take my food processor and go to town. There is no more day to day wondering of what to cook and by planning out my month worth of meals, I save time every day and have saved money at the store. My grocery shopping for a month is mostly bread, milk, and eggs.
The other thing we do to make easy cooking a reality is limit what goes into a meal. What do I mean by that? We almost always use quick and easy recipes that have few ingredients. My personal cooking book includes a lot of recipes I have acquired over the years and then simplified by re working the recipes until they only have four five ingredients. The fewer ingredients I have to worry about, the more easy dinner recipes I collect. My other consideration in this is that I am cooking for kids, so I want to make sure these are healthy easy recipes as well. 

Time is Money!

Cooking Ideas That Will Save You Time And Money,

The saying, “time is money” certainly applies in the business

world, but it applies in the kitchen, too. Saving time and money in the kitchen really helps with family time and the family budget. So it works in our favor when we come up with cooking ideas that save time and money in the kitchen. There are a lot of kitchen shortcuts out there, but no matter which way you cut the roast, cooking is still cooking. So what are some cooking ideas that will save you time and money?
Easy cooking is a great place to start. We all like to think of ourselves as good cooks, but not everything has to be complicated. It’s hard to save time and money if you aren’t organized. So get organized by focusing on what to cook and when to cook. Write your cooking ideas down and put them in your own personal cooking book. Along with planning what to cook, you should plan when to cook. Most people assume they have to cook dinner between the hours of 4 pm and 7 pm. As the norm this is great, but make sure you are using easy recipes for dinner.
Here is another one we found works in our house. Cook dinner at breakfast. No, most would not classify this as a normal habit. Think of it this way. By cooking your dinner in the morning, you will not have the evening rush of “what to cook” which regularly translates into “where can I order out” because you don’t have the time or energy to make a home cooked meal. Prepare your dinner meal while you are fixing breakfast, and then put it in the refrigerator. When you get home, you will only have to reheat and a home cooked meal is on the table in a jiffy. This is especially good when you are cooking for kids.
Here is a another one from the cooking book. Dig out the crock pot. We do this a lot on Sundays. There are healthy and great tasting dishes that you can make in a crock pot. In the morning, all your ingredients get added to the pot. By dinner, it’s ready to serve. How much prep time do you have when you get home? Just long enough to set the table. Talk about easy cooking! To us, this is as close as it comes to having someone cook your dinner for you. Shop around. There are some great crock pot recipes available that will tantalize your taste bud.
Along with those quick and easy recipes, try this. Plan a kitchen table picnic. What does that mean? It means you use paper plates and plastic ware. Does that beat washing the dishes or what?! Even the kids can get involved with throwing out the plates when they are done eating. I f you do this when you do crock pot cooking, then you have only one dish to wash, the crock pot!
This one needs prep time, but offers you a real break on a day to day basis. We do this about five or six times a year. We cook for a whole month a one time. Everything goes in the freezer. When we are done, there are 30 dinners in the freezer. It takes two days to get it all done, but for a month, dinner is on the table about 20 minutes after we get home. If a month seems overwhelming, start with doing meals for a week or two. Every night then has easy recipes for dinner!
Save time. Save money. It’s a great way to run a kitchen. The more easy cooking and cost effective cooking you can do, the better off your kitchen is!

Healthy Eating at Home 7 Golden Tips!

I’ve devised my 7 Tips for Healthy Eating at Home because I feel like crap. What the heck is going on? I’m a healthy guy, I’m not overweight. I exercise more than most people. I was the Executive Chef at a large hospital, so I know about nutrition and I can cook.
Why do I feel lousy? Why am I exhausted by the television at 9:00 pm? Why do I sleep 8 full hours and wake up tired? Why do I feel like I need a nap in the afternoon? Why is my attention-span shortening? Why does my memory seem to be duller? Why am I irritable sometimes? Why is this happening to me?
I’m very “busy”. Whew! I have so much to do! Perhaps I can chalk this up to the all-encompassing “stress”. That’s it. It’s just that I’m busy and I’m stressed. Regretfully, I don’t think that’s ever going to change. The question is now, “what CAN I change to feel better”?
The answer keeps coming back to me – diet. I don’t use the word “diet” like a fad-diet best seller. I use the word diet like the controlled sustenance they give to zoo animals. Diet is what you normally eat every day, not what you eat for a few weeks. Since food is fuel, and I can control what I eat, I need to scrutinize my overall diet.
These 7 tips for healthy eating at home are either small or large changes you can join me in making in our lives. Again, I’m healthy, not overweight, and I exercise a lot. However, I’ve found these small changes can make a big difference in returning my energy, wellness, and mental acuity.
1) Grocery Store Choices – The items you toss in your grocery buggy are your weeks’ fuel. Do you choose high-octane or low-quality fuel? Many food writers and bloggers advise that you shop around the perimeter of the grocery store. That’s where the vegetables, meats, and seafood are. The interior aisles of the store contain the chips, canned, and processed foods.
The problem is that the perimeter of the grocery can be more expensive, calorie for calorie, than the interior. Our Food Scientists have designed it that way. One dollar in the fresh produce section will yield a bag of spinach for about 15 calories. However, a bag of potato chips will give you 150 calories for the same dollar. Is this more fuel for the money, or just cheaper fuel?
Choose whole foods, those with less than 5 ingredients on the label, preferably only one ingredient on the label. If you like to eat beef, buy “beef”, not processed Steak-umms or frozen dinners that add fillers and empty calories to weigh you and your energy level down.
You can’t control what goes into take-out and restaurant foods. Honestly, their main objective is to make their business profitable, not improve your health. They will provide delicious food, hitting on all the comfort points the human tongue can perceive. They’re not looking out for your health and energy level, only you can do that.
Buy foods as close to their natural state as possible and you’ll have better results from what you eat.
2) Use Healthier Cooking Methods - All the other healthy eating tips can be absolutely ruined if you are cooking in a manner that adds unnecessary fat and calories to weigh you down. It’s not your fault if Grandma taught you to pan-fry everything in 2 cups of oil, or 2 sticks of butter. That’s the way she did it, but it’s time to consider alternative methods to increase your wellness and energy level.
The best methods for retaining the nutrition of the food you purchase are those that don’t add calories, but enhance the natural flavor of the food. Steaming is best for delicate items like fish and shellfish. Roasting or grilling are excellent methods for tougher items like beef or chicken.
The best and quickest way to turn healthy ingredients into healthy dishes is with Saute’. Saute is the stove-top method of applying intense heat directly to food through your sauté pan. The difference between sauté and Grandma’s pan frying is the amount of oil used.
In sauté, the object is to use as little fat as possible. The fat in this method is used to conduct heat from the bottom of the pan to your food item. It’s not meant to flavor or retain moisture. Saute cooks too fast for that.
Skip the breading. Chicken Parmesan is just as good with a grilled chicken breast than with a flour/egg/crumbs mixture adding calories and fat.
Cooking methods that use indirect heat like roasting and steaming, or direct heat like grilling and sauté are the best ones for healthy eating. Being able to duplicate these techniques with a variety of foods will result in more wholesome, nutritious, flavorful items.
3) Better Cooking Ingredients, Less Condiments - Choose real ingredients when you cook, but use less of them. Whatever you goal in improving your diet at home, removing the fake or inefficient foods in your diet can push you past the finish line.
If you must have a sweet taste in your beverage, use real sugar not a sugar-like substance from the food laboratory. Your body has no idea what that fake sugar is. If it has no idea how to categorize it, your body stores it as fat. Slowly train your palate to use less and less real sugar, skipping the chemicals.
The same is true for cooking ingredients. One tablespoon of real, flavorful olive oil will give health benefits and enjoyment that a full cup of hydrolyzed corn oil can’t.
If you learn to make your own simple sauces, you can avoid the additives in jarred sauces. Again, you have no control over what goes into a jar sold on the interior of the grocery store. A simple roux of one tablespoon REAL butter and flour will satisfy you much more than purchased Alfredo Sauce bound with modified cornstarch.
4) Start Portioning and Portion Correctly - Not every meal needs to be an endless buffet. That second helping may make you feel better at the table, but it’s what is keeping you awake at night.
The average adult will eat 12 ounces of food each meal. This should be 4-5 ounces of protein like chicken, meat, fish, or beans. Also, 3-4 ounces of starch like potatoes, pasta, or rice; and 2-3 ounces of vegetables.
Figuring these portions starts at the grocery store and ends just before the cooked food is placed on the plate. If you have a family of four, don’t cook 6 chicken breasts! Just don’t do it. Weigh your potatoes, pasta, and vegetables before cooking and only cook that amount.
Force-feeding leftovers because “they’ll go to waste” is another cause of over-eating, poor nutrition, and eventual lethargy.
5) Stop Snacking, or Eat Healthier Snacks - Respect meal time as the time to eat a meal. One of my best tips for eating healthy is not to eat “in-transit”. Stop eating in your car, stop eating engineered foods in a mylar bag as you move from place to place. This is where the empty calories are consumed that will make you feel lousy the rest of the day.
However, if know you are always hungry at 10am and 3pm, prepare for this eventuality with healthier snacks. I don’t mean carrot and celery sticks, that never lasts. But, switch from potato chips to pretzels, or from pretzels to nuts and dried fruit. If you’re on a special high-protein diet, your snack can be the leftover chicken breast that you planned to cook, but didn’t eat last night.
Plan your snacks, don’t be surprised by hunger, and your actual meals will be better accepted by your body, giving greater energy and happier outlook on life.
6) Drink Water - I’m not the first person you’ve heard say this. Soft drinks, drink powders, coffee drinks, and energy drinks can spike your metabolism, dehydrate you, and confuse your body with artificial sweeteners.
This can be the most difficult step for many people, as kicking the Coke habit can be as difficult as kicking the cocaine habit. An addict’s an addict. If you feel that you MUST have a can of soda, that should be a red flag to you. Your body is hooked on something and is now controlling you. Nobody is hooked on broccoli. Broccoli is not engineered to hit all the pleasure centers in the brain. Sweetened and carbonated drinks are.
Water is flavorless, but crucial to help in the digestion of all the other positive food improvements you’ve made. Start replacing everything you drink with water and you’ll see immediate results in your energy level. Buy yourself a cool new stainless steel water bottle and save the environment at the same time.
7) Educate Yourself - Don’t listen to me. Don’t listen to Michael Pollan. Don’t listen to any single expert or guru. Listen to all of them and make your own plan and decisions.
Seek out the knowledge that will improve your life permanently, not just for a short period of time. Ask friends about their eating habits. Read books on health and nutrition, not fad diets. Subscribe to websites and newsletters that focus on healthy eating and lifestyle. Watch television shows that will improve your diet and approach to eating.
The information is available to you, but nobody is going to simply plant it in your brain. Nor will anyone give you the motivation to seek out this knowledge. It’s all up to you. Find what your healthy eating goal is and find the people that have gone before you. Study them, follow what they do and you can do the same.
You’re not too busy. It’s not too hard. You don’t have to be smart, educated, wealthy or famous to make small changes in the way you interact with yourself. What do you believe you can do? What do you believe you CAN’T do? Either way, you’re correct. You can only do what you believe and you definitely won’t accomplish what you don’t.
You needn’t use all of these 7 tips for healthy eating at home. Start with one of the tips that fits most comfortably in your life. When you start to notice that you’re sleeping better, have more energy, are nicer to your kids, lowered your blood sugar, lost body fat, don’t have allergic reactions, or just feel better, you’ll be motivated to try another tip. Then another tip, then another. Now, you’ve changed your life and lifestyle, not just your diet.

Weight Loss With Avocado, Walnuts and Crispy Bacon!

"Beautiful Colorful  Diet"
Losing weight doesn't have to be boring when you focus on bright, colourful meals. What does this mean? Simply by making sure your plate reflects a range of colours, you'll naturally create more balanced and healthful menus. Not everyone has the time or the patience to count calories, but assessing the colours on your plate is something anyone can do - and it only takes an instant! Why is colour important? Many fatty and caloric foods, such as dairy products and startchy carbs, are beige or brown. When there are too many of these drab colours on your plate, weight gain is almost certain.
That's because these beige foods often are high in calories and can leave you feeling hungry later. A cup of beige or brown beans can be over 200 calories....but a cup of red or green vegetables is under a hundred! Add fresh greens, deep purple-reds and bright yellow-orange to a meal, and water the nutrient content go up, while calories go down! Plus, you'll get more enjoyment from eating when there's a variety of colours and flavors on your plate.
Although these ideas may sound whimsical, they're grounded in scientific fact. Dr David Heber, renowned nutritional expert from University of California, Los Angeles established the role of colour in his book, "What Color is Your Diet?" So, next time you visit the refrigerator, think colorfully. And remember to mix, not match!
To get you started on the color plate, here is a deliciously interesting salad: Avocado, Walnut & Crispy Bacon.
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 8 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
7oz/200 g rindless bacon, chopped
½ cup walnut haves, roughly chopped
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup fresh lime juice
sale and ground black pepper
6oz/150g baby spinach, trimmed and washed
3 ripe Roma (egg) tomatoes, diced
1 large ripe avocado, halved, peeled, seed removed and sliced
1 small red onion, very thinly sliced
Directions:
1. Heat a non-tick frying pay over medium high heat. Add bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes or until crisp. Remove bacon and set aside to cool.
2. Add walnuts to pan and cook over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes or until lightly toasted. Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate and set aside.
3. Add oil and lime juice to pan. Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir to combine.
4. Combine spinach, tomatoes, avocado, onion, bacon and walnuts in a large serving bowl. Pour warm lime dressing over salad and toss gently to combine. Serve immediately.

Good Food Good Helth!

Good enough to eat,

We are all familiar with vegetable flowers in the form of Cauliflower, Broccoli and Artichokes, but other, more ornamental flowers have been used in the cuisine of cultures all over the world for thousands of years. The Romans were keen on them, as were the ancient Chinese, and European medieval writings talk about feasts of venison cooked with marigolds and violets in salads. 

Using peppery Nasturtium flowers in salads and sweet, perfumed rose petals in desserts is quite well known, but did you also know: • The young shoots of Hostas are good spinach alternative – Hostakopita is a Greek spinach pie made with hosta shoots and in Japan nori maki sushi is filled with parboiled hosta shoots marinated in soy sauce, sugar & salt. They can also be steamed like asparagus. Only use young shoots though as older leaves are too tough. • Hemerocallis – Day Lily – the flowers and buds have a sweet nutty flavour and look pretty in salads. (Don’t use other types of lilies though as they are poisonous!) • Violets & Pansies – the sweet, fragrant flowers can be used in salads, desserts and drinks and can be crystallised for cake decoration. • Sunflowers – we all know you can eat the seeds, but did you know you can also eat the buds & petals? The petals have a bitter-sweet taste and can be used in salads. The unopened buds can be steamed and have a flavour similar to artichokes. • Lilac – the flowers have a floral, slightly lemony flavour and can be used in salads. • Honeysuckle – the flowers have a sweet honey flavour and can be used as a garnish for salads and desserts. (Don’t eat the berries though as they are poisonous). • Fuchsias – the vibrant flowers look great as a garnish. • Campanula – the narrow leaves make a sweet addition to salads. • Yucca – the white flowers have a thick and crunchy texture and a sweet flavour. Be careful of the spines at the tips of the leaves when picking though! • Typha – Reed Mace – the young shoots taste similar to water chestnuts and the rhizome can be eaten raw or cooked, or dried and ground into flour! • Even the humble Daisies and Dandelions in your lawn can be picked and used as garnishes. N.B. It’s fun to use some of these more unusual edible garden plants, but do be careful you are sure what they are, as so many of our common garden plants are in fact poisonous. If in doubt, leave it out! Also, never use insecticides or chemicals on plants you may want to eat, and make sure you wash them carefully first – not least to get rid of the creepy-crawlies!